World Literacy Foundation

The World Literacy Foundation (WLF) is a global not-for-profit that works to lift young people out of poverty through literacy. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation operates on the principle that education is a basic human right. It aims to eradicate global illiteracy through the promotion of literacy and the provision of educational resources.

The World Literacy foundation works to get communities involved and raise awareness of the importance of literacy. It is reported that 1 out of every 10, or 750 million people globally are illiterate.

Since its establishment in 2003, the World Literacy Foundation has grown to align with the needs of an evolving education sector. The World Literacy Foundation has worked towards forging partnerships with other leading educational and related not-for-profit organisations, and has built long-lasting relationships within communities around the world.

The World Literacy Foundation significantly dedicates its time and resources to conducting research, and uses resulting information to help advocate in local communities as well as on a global scale. It mobilise communities through passionate volunteers, and seeks to give individuals a voice so that they can also act as advocates for literacy within their own communities. The World Literacy Foundation believes that raising community awareness is vital to the improvement of literacy standards.

The World Literacy Foundation annually monitors a range of indicators in the education area and prepares a report on economic and social cost of illiteracy. In 2012, the WLF compiled a report which focuses on the economic and social cost of illiteracy in the United Kingdom. The research was devoted to economic and social cost of illiteracy in the country. It stated that one in five of the UK population is functionally illiterate and this rate costs the national economy 81 billion pounds a year in lost earnings and high welfare spending.

The World Literacy Foundation convened the World Literacy Summit at Oxford University (UK) in April 2012 to stimulate co-operation in the global literacy sector in order to support 796 million illiterate people in developed and developing worlds. The list of invited delegates included about 300 leaders in the fields of government, development, literacy and academic sectors. The Oxford Declaration became the resulting document of this event; it was designed to combine efforts of government, business, non-governmental organizations and educational institutions to promote literacy worldwide.

The World Literacy Foundation's projects are aimed at raising global literacy rates and teaching educational standards. The World Literacy Foundation volunteers and partner communities have worked in Azerbaijan, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Mozambique, Uganda, and other developing countries to provide access to quality education and learning resources to disadvantaged communities. With bases on five of the seven continents, the World Literacy Foundation tailors each operation to the country's specific literacy needs. In the African sect based in Uganda, where many people live in poverty and have no electricity the World Literacy Foundation has donated solar powered tablets. Paired with the Sun Books initiative the World Literacy Foundation is not just donating recourses but also training to teachers at the primary school level.

Where the foundation was started in Australia, the goal is geared towards closing the gap of literacy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children. For indigenous people illiteracy rates are a more prominent problem. To improve skills such as reading and number skills, the World Literacy Foundation has developed a program called the Indigenous Learning App. This app contains multilingual e-books and multiple literacy games in not just English but also the local dialect in Australia.